USA announces WWE week
While WrestleMania does not take place until next Sunday, the USA Network announced Thursday that this is WWE week.
Raw and Smackdown Live will run at their normal times on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, and on Thursday WrestleMania蘑菇视频 Greatest Moments airs at 8 p.m.
Saturday at 10 p.m., an abbreviated one-hour edition of the Hall of Fame ceremony will air and on Sunday at 6 p.m., USA will present a one-hour broadcast of the second hour of the official WrestleMania Kickoff show.
Full Hall show on Friday
The WWE蘑菇视频 Hall of Fame Class of 2018 will be inducted Friday night on the WWE Network.
The class consists of Goldberg, The Dudley Boyz, Ivory, Hillbilly Jim, Mark Henry, Jeff Jarrett, Kid Rock and Warrior Award recipient Jarrius 鈥淛J鈥� Robertson.
NXT Takeover Saturday
Saturday night, NXT TakeOver: New Orleans takes place and the lineup is loaded.
Andrade 鈥淐ien鈥� Almas defends the NXT title against Aleister Black while Ember Moon defends the women蘑菇视频 title against Shayna Baszler.
The Undisputed ERA defends the NXT tag titles against The Authors of Pain and the team of Roderick Strong and Pete Dunn while the first North American champion will be crowned in a ladder match between EC3, Adam Cole, Ricochet, Killian Dain, The Velveteen Dream and Lars Sullivan.
The other match that will air is an unsanctioned match between Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa.
Shane out of Mania?
WWE announced Monday that Shane McMahon is recovering from acute diverticulitis and an umbilical hernia.
The injury is said to be real and not part of a storyline, but he has stated that he will go through with teaming with Daniel Bryan against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.
If McMahon can鈥檛 go at Mania, WWE will replace him with someone on the current roster like Dolph Ziggler or have a surprise partner like Chris Jericho.
Mania seven hours?
While Mania officially starts at 7 p.m., it is penciled in to go off the air around midnight.
Toss in the two-hour preshow, which starts at 5 p.m., and it makes for a long day.
Bryan蘑菇视频 Pittsburgh appearance
The loudest ovation Tuesday night at Smackdown was for Bryan and it isn鈥檛 a surprise.
There weren鈥檛 any major surprises coming out of the show or backstage other than Extreme Rules was officially announced for July 15.
The advertised main event was a WWE championship match between A.J. Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura and Baron Corbin.
Mixed Tag Team Challenge continues Tuesday
Bobby Roode and Charlotte Flair advanced to the finals of the WWE Mixed Match Challenge on Facebook Watch with a win by Roode and Becky Lynch over Finn Balor and Sasha Banks Tuesday in Pittsburgh.
Lynch filled in for Flair who had dental surgery a few days prior.
Roode and Flair advance to take on The Miz and Asuka in the finals this Tuesday.
RYSE back in action Saturday
The Stronghold Arena in Lemont Furnace will be rocking Saturday night as RYSE returns to action.
The RYSE championship will be up in a six-man scramble as Lee Moriarty defends against Tony Johnson, Matt Conrad, Lewis, Ganon Jones, Jr. and Duke Davis.
The other huge match on a loaded card is Marion Fontaine against Derek Direction in a cross-promotion match for the Remix title.
For more information on the other matches on the card, go to www.rysewrestling.com.
On this date: Four Mania蘑菇视频 took place on this date
In 1990, Mania VI was held and the only noteworthy match was Intercontinental champion The Ultimate Warrior defeating WWE champion Hulk Hogan in a champion vs. champion match to win the heavyweight title.
In 2001, Mania X-7, considered by many to be the best PPV ever, took place.
I highly recommend that you pull it up on the WWE Network to watch it as there were numerous incredible matches including the first Undertaker v. Triple H Mania match and the second Steve Austin vs. The Rock Mania match.
In 2007, Mania 23 took place with John Cena retaining the WWE championship against Shawn Michaels, and in the match of the night, The Undertaker defeated Batista to win the World title.
In 2012, Mania XXVIII took place with The Rock defeating John Cena in the main event.
On the undercard, Taker defeated Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match in their third, and final, Mania match.
This week蘑菇视频 question
What if wrestlers get hurt before WrestleMania and can鈥檛 go? Zach, Bristol.
One of the wrestlers Zach pointed out was A.J. Styles.
The WWE champion was moving gingerly backstage at Smackdown Tuesday, and while he will be all right for Mania, injuries do happen.
In the past, matches have been changed due to injuries and just two years ago at Mania 32 in Dallas several stars were out.
Over the years, talent has toughed it out in big matches like Owen Hart with a broken ankle at Mania XIV, and Shane McMahon is dealing with his health issues heading into next weekend蘑菇视频 show.
The medical team will give its recommendation to WWE and a part of it is how much pain talent can withstand for their matches while injured.
Email questions/comments to Bill at powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to me @BillHughes_III